YUMUNC 2020
Crash Landing on You

Letter from the Dais

Dear Delegates, 

Welcome to YUMUNC 2021! Our names are Linh, Annie, Eda, Joon, and Alayna, and we are beyond excited to serve as your chairs and crisis directors for the Crash Landing On You committee. Despite the virtual format of the conference, we hope that the experience will be memorable, fun, and enriching for all of you. 

Annie is a junior in Jonathan Edwards College majoring in Global Affairs and Economics. She calls both Taipei and Shanghai home and has been binge watching Korean dramas since fourth grade. Within the Yale International Relations Association, she is also involved with YMUNAsia and YMUN Korea. She is a big fan of green smoothies, falafel sandwiches, and zucchini brownies and likes consuming all of the above in her college’s beautiful courtyard (pre-COVID times). 

Alayna (@alayclee) is a junior majoring in East Asian Studies and Political Science at Yale University from Northern Virginia. As a member of the Yale International Relations Association (YIRA), she was also involved with YMGE, YUMUNC, IRSY, and YRIS. Outside of YIRA, she writes for the Yale Daily News and works as a Community and Consent Educator. In her free time, she likes dancing to 80’s pop, watching old films, and listening to her roommate play electric guitar until 3 in the morning. 

Linh is a junior majoring in Chemical Engineering and Global Affairs. Hailing from Hanoi, Vietnam, Linh has been involved in Model UN organizing with the Yale International Relations Association, while spending most of his time doing research on polymers and dancing with Yale’s premier K-Pop group Yale Movement. In his free time, Linh is mainly found whiling away on social media, catching up on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and trying his best to cook.

Joon is a junior majoring in Mathematics and Ethics, Politics, & Economics. He calls San Diego home, and has been involved with numerous Model UN conferences through the Yale International Relations Association. Presently, he spends much of his free time absorbing knowledge from the numerous RuPauls’s Drag Race-related conversations that occur between Linh and other roommates each day. 

Eda is a junior in Davenport College. 

Feel free to reach out to any of us with any questions or concerns you might have! We look forward to seeing you all soon.

The year is 2019, and the rest of the world only thinks of Kim Jong-un -- Supreme Leader since 2011 -- when North Korea is mentioned. This committee will focus on an often overlooked aspect of North Korea, namely the daily lives of the many impoverished North Korean citizens. Although North Korea piques many interests, little is known about the specifics of day-to-day government operations, especially regarding the many small villages across the authoritarian state. Commonly called the “hermit kingdom,” North Korea adheres to the “man as master of all” juche ideology and prefers secrecy. Using the popular Korean drama Crash Landing Into You as a basis for where little information can be found otherwise, this committee will explore the contemporary issues at play in a typical North Korean village.

The Democratic Republic of North Korea is divided into administrative provinces, in addition to special municipalities, and these provinces are further divided into cities, countries, and villages. Each province and city has its own people’s committees, which perform administrative functions, and people’s assemblies, which perform legislative functions. All of these organs operate under the control of the central government, which the Korean Workers Party has dominated since the country’s inception in 1948. 

This committee will serve as one such people’s committee, that is overlooking a small village near the demilitarized zone. These committees originated in the aftermath of Japanese colonial rule in Korea, when the Soviet Union’s war entry suddenly expelled the foreign administration. Self-governing organizations later known as people’s committees formed in the void left by colonial rulers and acted as forums for lofty conversations about visions for the future state and minute details on how everyday life should be organized. As the future North Korean government formed, many of the people’s committees were retained as the primary form of local government. Moreover, many local leaders of the committees were later chosen as party members and representatives.  

You are a member of the people’s committee overseeing a village. The committee has gathered for a special meeting at the request of the Pyongyang government, so atypical committee members are also present. In addition to the local members, Pyongyang has sent along its own representatives, in addition to military representatives. The topic at hand is the special intelligence Pyongyang has received declaring that a South Korean spy has crossed the border and is now hiding in this village. The central government has tasked the committee with  identifying and locating the spy, who will then be returned to Pyongyang. Multiple concerns must also be kept in mind. You should consider how or if the other villagers will react, in addition to maintaining control over the normal village operations. 

Current Situation

Relationship with South Korea

South Korea has held a constantly strained relationship with the DPRK despite constant efforts for reunification. 2010 was specifically observed to signal a downturn in the inter-Korean relations. With the phasing out of the Sunshine Policy, hostility between the two countries rose when on March 26, the Cheonan, carrying 104 personnel, sank in the Yellow Sea, for which a North Korean submarine was pinpointed as the culprit, and on May 2010, when the Lee Myung-bak administration suspended trade activities with the North and prohibited all of its ships from entering the South’s waters. The Park Geun-hye administration similarly underwent escalation: in 2014, a crashed North Korean drone was found with photographs of military installations near the DMZ, while continued missile testing and submarine deployment from the North paralleled the South’s continued propaganda broadcasts and its plan to assassinate Kim Jong-un. High-level discussions of reunification did not see significant progress until the Moon Jae-in presidency in 2018, when the Winter Olympics united Korean participation was followed by a summit between Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in. Between 2018 and 2020, the oscillating relationship between North and South Korea is characterized by optimistic socioeconomic reconciliation and fragile diplomatic tension. Both continue to display militarily belligerent behavior while conducting propaganda campaigns against each other. At its nadir, a detonation at the joint liaison office in Kaesong, a small provincial city in southern North Korea, has left officials claiming “[prospects for peace have] faded away into a dark nightmare.”

Both countries have varying counterintelligence capacities. North Korea is known for possessing one of the, if not the, largest military organizations in the world. North Korean espionage personnel are positioned throughout East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe; military brigades are divided geographically, with several important commissions under the Korean People’s Army such as the headquarter XI Corps, the Strategic Rocket Force, and Reconnaissance General Bureau. In the past, South Korea has intercepted North Korean spies who arrived at the South to assassinate prominent defectors. On a comprehensive level, it is hard to verify the structure of North Korean intelligence services. Reports in the media are often based on dubious assumptions, shrouded in secrecy, or purely untraceable. Rather, North Korea possesses a large network of “sub-intelligence” parameters, which include information brokerage, organized crimes, and front business activities. There is evidence for commingling of intelligence bureaucracy between the security and civilian sectors, owing in no small part to North Korea’s massive military force. Recently, cyber warfare including ransomware, systems interference, and information accumulation has been documented from North Korea’s successive operations, including but not limited to Campaign Kimsuky, Operation DarkSeoul, Operation Blockbuster, and Wannacry. North Korea is known for overplaying its hand, for instance in the use of abduction as a policy tool when an American student was detained and suffered lethal neurological damage after being released afterwards.

On the contrary, South Korea is not particularly known for such extensive intelligence activities. In the past, South Korean back-channel diplomatic outreach has been credited for the first joint inter-Korean communiqué. With the most recent developments in both sides’ foreign policies, the progressive Moon Jae-in administration has rather attempted to downsize its National Intelligence Service with a view to repositioning itself from intelligence collection to breaking through the deadlock in inter-Korean relations. Over the past 30 years, there has been a consistent flux of North Korean defectors who manage to migrate to the South in search of more opportunities for themselves or their family. Recently, there have been 15 cases of defectors voluntarily returning to the North. There is an increasing concern that this is due to either coercion or disguised reconnaissance missions. Regardless, South Korea’s espionage missions are much less limited in scope even before the restructuring, and relied on cooperation or alliance with other countries to ensure the integrity of their own standing.

Questions to Consider

General:

What unique resources does your character have access to? How might your character position for influence within the village? You can feel free to be creative here — taking material from the show is recommended, but the show shouldn’t bound your possibilities.

What characters from Crash Landing on You not represented as delegates might you have connections to? Is there a way for you to take advantage of such connections?

The characters represented in this committee are much less powerful than the typical crisis character - much of the intrigue and drama in this committee will occur at the village level, as opposed to the national or international level. What type of directives will help you succeed in this context?

The village this committee is based in is near the DMZ. Are there opportunities for your character to take advantage of this proximity to the border (and South Korea)?

For Non-Village Characters:

How can you best use the authority and privilege of your military and/or government position to your advantage? What special tools do you have to discover who is harboring the spy?

What can you do to foster a productive and/or mutually beneficial relationship with the local villagers (who can offer valuable support)?

For Village Characters: 

What outside-of-village connections or influence might your character plausibly have? Again, there is no need to strictly follow the show when shaping your character’s crisis arc.

One of the most potent weapons available at the village level is the rumor. How can you use your character’s position to ensure that your public narrative is always favorable?

Kim Soo-hyun (North Korean inspector) 

Kim Soo hyun’s the committee’s Pyeongyeong presence. As a former spy to South Korea, he is well versed in South Korean conventions. He must quickly identify the spy and her harborer and report back to Pyeongyeong. He can easily mobilize the military and use their assistance to achieve his goals.  

Cho Cheolgang

Cho is a Lieutenant Commander in the North Korean Armed Forces Security Bureau. However, he is also behind major criminal activities, including harboring fugitives. Cho suspects that someone in the village is harboring a South Korean spy, and he will expose the identity of the traitor and spy at all costs. At the same time, he must protect himself so that his criminal activities are not exposed. 

Ri Jeong-Hyuk

Captain Ri serves in the Korean People’s Army, stationed along the North Korean portion of the DMZ. His father is leader of the GBP, Ri Chungryeol, and he was forced to join the military after the death of his older brother who passed away in a mysterious car accident. He is the first to discover Seri upon her arrival to North Korea and is her primary source of support in the country. However, he must ensure that he is not suspected of harboring Seri, so as to not jeopardize his own and his father’s position in the military. 

Kim Ryong-hae

Kim is Ri Jeong-Hyuk’s superior in the military as the Senior Colonel. Although he doesn’t like Ri, he tries to please him after learning the high military status of his father. In this search for the South Korean spy, he must maintain his integrity in the military and be careful not to make Ri an enemy. His primary objective is to maintain his military status and get on the good side of characters in power.  

Park Kwang-beom

Park is a staff sergeant in Company Five. As a member of the military in Captain Ri’s team, he follows Ri’s lead. He was present at the initial sighting of Seri with Captain Ri and helped him hide his connection to her. Although he is quiet and less active than other members in Company Five, Captain Ri relies on him for most of his secret missions. Knowing all of Captain Ri’s secrets puts him at a powerful advantage should he choose this information against Ri. 

Na Wol-Suk

Na is the leader of the village and leads the neighbor wives. She is determined to identify the South Korean spy as she must maintain the peace and order in the village. She is also in charge of leading the village response to miscellaneous crises and especially influential amongst the village wives. She regularly patrols the village to ensure that each household is maintaining good living conditions. 

Ma Young-ae

Ma is the wife of Kim Ryong-hae. She comes from a wealthy background and often likes to flaunt her husband’s status in the military as well as her family’s wealth. She is also a leader figure in the village and has the authority to delegate tasks to other wives in the village. Like her husband, she, too, admires Captain Ri and wishes to please him. 

Hyun Myeong Sook

Hyun is the wife of Jung Man-bok, a wiretapper who is forced to participate in Cho Cheolgang’s criminal activities. Although Hyun and Jung’s family is regarded as of low status due to his occupation, they have important information about Captain Ri’s whereabouts and intel on the South Korean spy. Hyun is a caring individual but may choose to expose necessary information to protect her family. 

Yang Ok-geum 

Yang is another wife in the village. Her goal is to help the other leaders in the village protect their peace and stability. She is particularly keen on pleasing the more powerful wives, such as Ma Young-ae and Na Wol-suk. 

Lim Sung Mi

Lim is a vendor at a North Korean market. She imports peculiar items from South Korea and markets them to North Koreans. She comes in direct contact with Seri when she visits the market and pawns her belongings from South Korea. Lim is one of the few characters who has tangible evidence of Seri’s ties to South Korea. She must find a way to identify her as the spy and provide the necessary evidence to the military or wives in the village. 

Baek Seung Chul 

Baek is a fishing boat captain who Seri’s harborer contacts to help her escape. Although he is unsure of Seri’s identity, he has seen and interacted with the two. Because he runs illegal boat rides to get people off the coast, he is constantly exposed to secret travels. He must strategically use the information he has to avoid legal consequences for getting caught. 

Endnotes

https://borgenproject.org/tag/poverty-in-north-korea/

https://www.nknews.org/pro/how-the-north-is-run-local-government/

http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-9593.html

https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Korea/Government-and-society

https://www.britannica.com/place/North-Korea/Local-government

https://ccdcoe.org/uploads/2019/06/Art_08_The-All-Purpose-Sword.pdf

https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/12/22/south-korea-revise-intelligence-act-amendments

http://www.j-institute.jp/protection/protection-old-board/?mod=document&uid=227